About Holt's
The rise and rise of the supermarket has rung the death knell for many small greengrocers but William Holt's has been trading in Hebden Bridge for over a century with nothing more startling than good, fresh produce. Much of it is seasonal and local and we have our fair share of what we call 'fancy lines' which here means endive, lollo rosso, star fruit or oyster mushrooms and a wide range of exotic fruit and vegetables.
William Holt started the business in the late 1800s with a horse and cart. The first shop was just up from the Bank on the opposite side of Bridge Gate.
The present shop opened in the early 1900s, and Arthur Holt (William's son) soon took over. He was very civic minded and bought the Memorial Gardens (The Park) and gave it to the town. The inside of the shop has remained very much as it was 100 years ago. Flag floors, cobbled back yard.
The shop was one of the earliest to install a phone in the town. Hebden Bridge 43. After the war staff numbers went up to 12, and the fish and poultry side really took off. At Christmas well over 200 turkeys were killed, plucked and dressed, (no frozen foods then). Up 30 hares came down from Scotland each week hanging in an open crate. Over a ton of fresh fish arrived each Tuesday, including one 8ft halibut, (imagine that today), and eight 14 stone boxes of haddock.
On a good day the queue would stretch along New Road and up Crown Street. Arthur Holt's motto was 'Quality is the true test of cheapness' which can still be seen over the shop.
